The resulting album, Dress for Excess, the recording of which was described as "madness" by Tony James with no overall plan and a number of different producers, finally saw its release three years after Flaunt It in 1989.

[6][7] "Rio Rocks" was written for the band's Brazilian fans and was heavily influenced by "La Bamba".

[9] "Rio Rocks" was finally commercially released at the end of July 1989 backed with "Aliens", written and produced by the band.

Reviewing for Record Mirror, Tim Nicholson described "Rio Rocks" as the "grungeous groovy step sister" of the band's previous single "Albinoni vs Star Wars", and "as banal as their opening shot 'Love Missile F1-11'".

[12] Ian Gittins for Melody Maker described the song as "truly abject, a pissed-Brits conga round some Latin fiesta", and, similarly, Ben Thompson for New Musical Express described it as "an awe-inspiringly dreadful Latin-American fiasco".